From now until November 15th Ontarians are being encouraged to “…submit ideas and help take our education system – already one of the best in the world – from Great to Excellent.”. Here’s the Minster’s message about this effort.

In support of this the Ministry of Education has provided a “Community Consultation Kit” to support District School Boards, School Communities and Community Groups and Organizations and help them provide input into Ontario’s education system.

As most of us well know (ok, maybe not the ministry) in 2013 communities aren’t tied to particular geographic locations. Increasingly, 21st century communities arise around ideas and ways of thinking and include people from a variety of geographic locations and walks of life. Precisely the diverse slice of opinions and voices the ministry is asking to hear from and desperately needs.

To this end I will be hosting a series of online events to allow anyone who wishes to join us the chance to discuss The Seven Questions posed for consultation. At the end of these online consultations I’ll submit the main points of the discussion to the ministry through their online submission form.

Here’s how I think this will work. On the dates listed below I’ll host a twitter chat on two of the questions using the hashtag #G2EChat.

September 28th – Questions 1 & 2 (9 am-10 am)

October 5th – Questions 3 & 4 (9 am-10 am)

October 12th – Questions 5 & 6 (9 am-10 am)

October 19th – Questions 7 & wrap-up (9 am-10 am)

The twitterchat will be divided into two 30 minute discussion periods, with the first period devoted to the first question listed and the second period devoted to answering the second question. I’ll introduce the question and allow some time for reflection and discussion and then for the last 5-10 minutes I’ll ask people to make their final statements for submission.

Obviously these are general guidelines and if there’s a need I’ll modify them. If anyone has other suggestions or a better way to do this please hit me up in the comments or on twitter (@acampbell99).

I got lots of interested responses when I proposed this on twitter so hopefully we’ll get lots of smart people engaged in debate and have some helpful input for the Minster.